20/20 Investigations, Inc…The Hotel, Chapter 12.

You mean the same vests that the police wear?  Meow.=Yep.  Good going Muffin, that proves it wasn’t Bill, it had to be Trish’s boyfriend, Roger.  But why would Bill be hiding things from Jessica?  It’s obvious he was doing that right from the beginning.  He deliberately lied to her about the tunnel and that old shack.  But why?  Meow, meow.=Maybe Trish pretend to like Bill.  Yes, that would do it, but he never knew Trish before coming here and he was lying to Jessica ever since they got here, and maybe before that.  What did Bill find out?  It was enough to get him killed.  I guess Trish and Roger are a little too cautious about more killing.  How do they know what we’re doing as well?  They must be spying on us somehow, and I just can’t believe it’s Jessica telling them.

Meow, meow.=Jessica really nice, maybe we take her home with us?  No Muffin, and be careful, we need to keep our heads clear, don’t get emotionally attached.  First rule of a PI, good way to get killed too.  And stop sighing.  I think Bill had been knocked out and then someone dropped that big rock on his head.  And it would take a big strong man to lift that rock, someone like Roger.  Now we need to prove this.  Meow, meow?=How we going to do that?  I’m not sure, but it would be nice to find that gold, or whatever they are after.  Meow…right then Jessica called us for dinner.  We’ll talk more later Muffin.  Meow, meow.=Jessica very good cook.  That she is Muffin.  Meow, meow=We take her home with us?  No Muffin, we are not doing that.  Meow.=Rats.

Jessica was quiet at dinner, very unusual for her.  How far is the town of Windon?, I ask.  It would take about an hour and a half to get there, she said.  Why?  Just wondering, I wanted to pick up some things that I can’t get in this little town.  But you don’t want to tell me what you need, right?  I don’t think you trust me yet, she added.  That’s the way a PI needs to be, I said, and you didn’t help things by withholding important information from me.  But that’s not it, our “ghostly” friends seem to know what we are doing all the time, so they must be listening to us somehow, so we need to be careful.  That’s a scary thought, said Jessica.  Tomorrow I want to take another look at that tunnel, but we will have to go in through the mine entrance.  Jessica looked puzzled, but I motioned to her not to say anything.

It was getting late so we decided on going to bed, I checked Jessica’s bedroom to make sure no one was hiding in there, and made sure her window was locked.  Would you like Muffin to stay with you?, I asked.  No, I prefer that you and Muffin stay together.  Muffin and I decide to take a look around before heading to bed.  Cellar first, I said to Muffin.  Meow, meow?=You really want to go down there again?  Yep, it’s important.  Muffin jumps onto my shoulder so she can watch behind us and down we go and directly to that door leading to the tunnel.  We both stared.  The tunnel was cleared completely, like there never was a cave in.  Someone worked fast and quiet on that, I said.  Only the ceiling of the tunnel showed there had been trouble.  I closed the door and set up some things that would make a lot of noise if anyone came in that way.  Meow, meow?=What if someone already inside?

We’ll have to check the entire hotel now.  I whispered instructions to Muffin and she followed me back upstairs.  Wow, I was really getting tired.  Back upstairs I noticed Jessica’s bedroom door was open, she was still in bed though.  Why did she open her door?  I look around her bedroom again.  Nothing.  I can barely stay awake now.  I get back out into the main room and grab a chair, I can barely stand up and…Bill!

To be continued.

Steve and Muffin.

© 2020 Steve McLeod.